Secret Agent Manager

Who me, a hero?

(Or, as at least one commenter has said, a creep.)

Back in December (file this under "historical background"), U.S. News and World Report featured prospect researchers as the "hidden heroes" of the nonprofit world in its profile on the "Best Kept Secret Careers." Or as commenter Diane said, a career one had best keep secret, lest one die of shame due to one's career choice.

Oh, my.

Hilariously, the article claims that prospect researchers can do exactly what I always emphasize to my development officers that I can not do: determine a prospective donor's "pet peeves" and "emotional hot buttons."

That is, unless their pet peeves and emotional hot buttons are so well known, they've been documented in a local paper. (It has happened.) We're not criminal profilers or detectives digging through the garbage.